


Set In Stone

by fangs_for_the_memories



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, F/F, Medusa - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 12:10:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13235472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangs_for_the_memories/pseuds/fangs_for_the_memories
Summary: Carmilla is a medusa living alone in the forest, cursed to never be able to look another in the eyes without turning them to stone.  Laura is a monster hunter with a twist, searching for a missing girl who was last seen in a forest.And Mattie is a dragon, tasked with looking after Carmilla, on the lookout for one specific individual.





	Set In Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year, creampuffs! Was trying to get this uploaded so creampuffs across the globe would get it before New Year's Day ended, but sadly I couldn't get to it in time. (This was meant to be a tiny one-shot and somehow turned into 30 pages and 11.5K words LOL)  
> Hope you enjoy it!

“Dude, I’m still not sure why I’m with you,” LaFontaine grumbles beside Laura as they trudge through a forest.  “I could be in the lab right now, testing the new minotaur specimen that came in.  My present from Kirsch for the holidays.”

Laura huffs.  “Because Perry is busy cleaning the lab and wanted you out today.  Just like everyone else is, because it’s the _holidays_.  And also I need help.”

“You’re a badass monster hunter,” LaF comments.  “What kind of help could you possibly need?”

“Don’t be a jerk, you know exactly what help I need.”  Laura readjusts her weapon sack pointedly.

LaF shrugs.  “This wouldn’t be an issue if you’d just use the damn stick I made for you with all the bells and whistles.”

Laura trips over a rock and stumbles, but LaF manages to catch her and hold her up.

“How would a stick help me here, exactly?” Laura snaps.

LaF runs a hand through their hair.  “Fine.  Fine.  No more complaining from me.”

 

They continue for a bit through the trees, with LaF making sure Laura doesn’t trip and fall to her death.

“So what are you hunting, again?”

Laura frowns.  “I’m not entirely sure.  A mother came to me, saying her daughter disappeared in the river flowing through here.  I looked into it and there’s been a history of disappearing girls over the past few centuries.  A powerful goddess used to reside here, but she hasn’t been seen since the rash of disappearances began.”

There’s a loud roar in the distance and they both jump.

“Uhm… anything else we should know about this place?” LaF asks.

Laura frowns, going for the sword sheath attached to her belt.  “I didn’t see reports about anything else mystical living in this area.”  Her eyes widen and she stops.  “Wait.  The goddess had a dragon as a guard.”

There’s another rumbling shriek, this time closer.

 

“Hollis, I love you, but I am not getting barbecued for you,” LaF says.

Laura narrows her eyes in a glare before getting an idea.  “But think about what you could do with it at the lab.”

LaF mulls this over as a louder snarl is heard nearby.  “Fine.   _Fine_ ,” they finally say.  “I’ll be bait and you take it down.  Alive, please.”

Laura grins.  “You got it.”

 

LaF heads for an open clearing near a cliff and sighs.  “The things I do for science,” they sigh before waving their arms.  “Hellooooo?  Fresh meat!”

 

A few seconds pass before a shadow looms above the region.  A gust picks up as the beat of wings keep a large beast hovering over the trees and it circles around a small cliff nearby.

It opens its mouth and a long stream of flames shoot out, aiming right for LaF.  They let out a yelp and duck for cover.  The dragon takes the opportunity to land in the clearing.

“Hollis!  Now would be a good time!” LaF screams as they hide behind a rock to seek shelter from another round of fire.

Laura leaps out, sword in hand.  She lunges for the dragon and takes a swipe, managing to get its shoulder.  It lets out an agonized bellow and tries to grab Laura, who dekes to the side and slices the dragon on the arm.

The dragon growls and suddenly turns its attention away from Laura, instead breathing fire at a tree.  It quickly catches on fire and falls over, landing on the rock LaF is situated behind.  They roll away, but are now out in the open.  It charges at them and Laura’s eyes widen.

The dragon swings its arm and Laura jumps in front of LaF, pushing them out of the way before taking the hit herself.  It sends her flying off the ledge and tumbling down several feet of rocks.

 

Laura clenches her teeth against the constant repeated impact until she feels herself roll to a stop, trying to remain conscious.  A river flows by, so she figures at least she’s getting closer to her destination.  Except her head is spinning and she feels blood running down her face.

There’s distant frantic shouts from LaFontaine asking if she’s okay, so she tries to push herself up, but pain shoots through her arm and side and she lets out a pained cry and stops.

Before Laura can figure out her next move, she hears footsteps of a stranger approaching.

 

Laura looks up at the person, who pauses.  Shock comes off them in waves and Laura frowns as she can feel herself losing consciousness.

“Who are you?” Laura asks weakly, trying not to give in.

“Carmilla,” the stranger answers, in awe.  “How are you looking at me?”

Laura’s in a losing fight and her eyes droop closed.  “I’m not…”

“Hey, wait.  Don’t pass out, cutie,” Carmilla says urgently.

Except it’s too late, and this mysterious girl is now unconscious in her arms.

 

* * *

 

**_[One hour earlier]_ **

_“Where shall we put this?” Mattie had asked, running her finger down the latest statue that’s come into Carmilla’s possession._

_“_ Her _.  And her name was Betty,” Carmilla mumbles._

 _Mattie rolled her eyes.  “Oh,_ God _.  Where do you want to put_ Betty _?”_

_“I think there’s some space between Sarah Jane and Natalie,” Carmilla replied, picking at her fingernails, trying and failing to look disinterested._

_Mattie hummed in response, transforming her hand into a large claw and picking Betty up with ease to move.  “I heard in town that a monster hunter is visiting.  She might be checking out the forest, so be careful, sis.”_

_Carmilla scowled.  “What idiot would come to a forest rumored to house a powerful goddess, a dragon, and… me?”_

 

_“One Laura Hollis,” Mattie shrugged.  “The parents of this shiny piece of rock living nearby hired her to look for their daughter.  From what I gather, she’s a pretty big deal.  Took care of that rabid Chimera a few years ago.  Got into it with some harpies recently.”_

_Carmilla’s eyes widened.  “That’s… Wow.”_

_“Yep, that’s why I’m warning you,” Mattie said, securing the newest one of Carmilla’s collection in place in the garden.  “Wouldn’t want my favorite medusa to get her head lopped off.”_

_Carmilla crossed her arms.  “I’m the_ only _medusa you know.”_

_“Yeah, so let’s keep it that—”  Mattie cut herself off as her ears perked up._

_“What is it?” Carmilla asked._

_Mattie smirked as she walked through Carmilla’s home to go out the front door.  “Someone very tiny.  Trailed by someone slightly larger.  They’re heading straight for the river.”  She rolled out her joints.  “Don’t worry your pretty little head.  I’ll roast this monster hunter before she has a moment to see a trickle of water.”_

 

_Without any further ado, Mattie stretched out her arms, grinning as large wings protruded from her back.  Her limbs grew in size, scales appearing as a loud roar rumbled from her mouth._

_A couple quick flaps and Mattie took off, shrieking into the forest skies._

_Carmilla sat down on her living room chair with a frown._

 

_Something felt weird about letting Mattie go off after this monster hunter._

_With a huff, she stood up, looked around at the collection of victims she keeps around in her garden, and rushed off after Mattie._

 

Which is how she somehow winds up cradling the monster hunter’s head in her lap.  The monster hunter who had also somehow looked her in the eyes, but did not turn to stone, as countless others had.

“How?” Carmilla asks out loud.

 

Loud wings flap down towards her, followed by a large _thud_.  Carmilla can hear Mattie shifting back into her human form.  “Take her back to your home.”

Carmilla furrows her eyebrows in confusion.  “What?”

“Her friend took a bag of weapons and ran off. So I will find them and, until I know it’s safe, I want you to take this little bean somewhere in case we need to use her as leverage.  Assuming you don’t stone-ify her.”

Carmilla swallows hard.  “But, Mattie… She—”

“Sweetie, we don’t have time to debate this.  Some deranged redhead is running around our forest as we speak.  This girl looks light, so just pick her up, put a blindfold on her if you want, and keep her in your home.”  With that, Mattie transforms again into her dragon form and takes off.

 

She glances down at the bleeding, unconscious girl.  The girl who did not turn to stone.

Carmilla carefully picks her up and starts the quick trek along the river, trying not to creepily observe her but ultimately failing.

Even unconscious, Carmilla can tell she has a kind soul.  Through the cuts and scrapes, the girl exudes warmth and love.  And her beautiful speckled eyes before they had closed...   _God, her eyes_.

 

Within minutes, she’s back to her small home.

Carmilla sets the girl down on her bed and she quickly covers up the entrance to the garden and tidies up whatever she can.  Mattie had been the only one to visit long-term for centuries and she wasn’t particularly vocal one way or the other about the mess.  Carmilla hadn’t always been messy, but it had gotten worse over the decades, especially as the loneliness grew.

She pauses at the window facing the garden and swallows hard before throwing the curtains over it.

 

There’s a small groan and Carmilla hesitantly makes her way back to her bedroom.

“Ugh, where am I?” the girl asks, more to herself.

_You took an injured girl and brought her to a strange new place, and made it dark.  Good going, Karnstein._

A floorboard creaks and the girl visibly tenses.  “Hello?  Who’s there?”

Carmilla curses at herself but steps out into the open.  “It’s Carmilla.  The girl who found you by the river?”

“Oh.  I’m… Laura,” she says slowly, relaxing a bit.

 

Carmilla’s eyes widen and she has to steady herself on the wall.  “Wh… Laura _Hollis_ ?”   _The monster hunter?_ She’s _the monster hunter?_

Laura pauses, her head cocked to the side.  “Uhm… Everything okay?”

Carmilla stands in front of her, meeting her eyes.  Her gorgeous eyes.  And still, Laura did not turn to stone.

“I’m a medusa,” she replies hesitantly.  Laura tenses up again.  Carmilla clears her throat.  “Why… aren’t you turning to stone?  You’re looking right at me, but you’re fine.”

 

“I may be looking at you, but I can’t see you.”  Laura swallows hard and shifts uncomfortably.  “I’m blind.”

 

Carmilla’s mouth drops open.  “Blind?  As in…”

“As in I can’t see…?”” Laura huffs lightly.  “I thought a medusa changes other people to stone.  Didn’t know your abilities affected your own noggin and made you slow on the uptake, too.”

Carmilla laughs softly.  “So, what?  You’re here to kill me?”

Laura crosses her arms.  “Are you responsible for Elizabeth Spielsdorf?  Sarah Jane?  Natalie?”

Carmilla’s eyes guiltily wander towards the door to the garden.

“I’m not here to kill you,” Laura sighs.

Carmilla frowns in confusion.  “Huh?”

 

Before Laura can explain, there’s a loud sound of large wings flapping outside and Laura leaps out of the bed.  “ _You’re_ the owner of that dragon?”

Footsteps approach and Mattie scoffs.  “I should think not.”

“Mattie’s an ancient dragonborn,” Carmilla explains.  “Able to take the form of human or dragon, her existence tethered to a couple more dimensions than we ours.  It’s why she can look at me and not change to stone.”

“And she’s Laura Hollis, the blind monster hunter, and that’s why _she_ can look at you and not change to stone,” Mattie comments.  “Probably should’ve told you before.”

Carmilla looks at her, eyebrows furrowed.  “You _knew_ she was the monster hunter?”

“Of course, dear,” Mattie says with a laugh.  “She moved out there with fluidity and power.  The other one was cumbersome and looked like they hadn’t seen fresh air in weeks.”

“Only a couple,” Laura mumbles.

“Why would you tell me to bring home a monster hunter who’s gonna kill me?” Carmilla demands.

 

“She’s not going to kill you, silly.”

Carmilla raises an eyebrow at Mattie.

“She hunts down monsters.  And then she _helps_ them,” Mattie explains.  “She doesn’t kill them.”

Laura sighs.  “That’s what I was about to tell you.”

Carmilla frowns, examining Mattie and Laura to see if they’re being disingenuous in any way.  “But you told me she ‘took care of that rabid Chimera’ and ‘got into it with some harpies.’”

“I found the Chimera in the town she was terrorizing and used a super powerful tranquilizer to render her unconscious,” Laura explains.  “And then gave her some medication to treat the rabies.  She went back to living alone in peace in the Lycian mountains.”

“And the harpies?”

Laura shrugs.  “They were supposed to punish a serial killer in the afterlife but they accidentally kidnapped his innocent twin when they died within minutes of each other.  Just had to go find them and clarify the mix-up so they could swap the souls.  They were miffed about the paperwork it’d entail.”

 

Carmilla stares at her incredulously.  “So… you’re a monster hunter capable of facing off against a dragon… who just helps dangerous monsters?”

Laura giggles.  “I guess.”

“A charitable, sympathizing, blind monster hunter who giggles.  Now I’ve seen it all,” Carmilla comments dryly.  She looks at Mattie.  “So why is she _here_?  Did you send her here to help me?”

Mattie rolls her eyes.  “Darling, I didn’t _send_ anyone.  But I did overhear in town that she was coming so I figured I might as well take advantage of the situation when I saw you coming down the river, so I gave her a little push… off the cliff.”

Laura bunches up her face in confusion.  “So… I’m here to…?”

“Carm is lonely.  I’m not only guardian of this forest, I’m guardian of this whole region.  Towns and mountains included.  I can’t keep her company all the time.  And since you can’t see her and won’t turn to stone, you seem like a great stand-in during my absences.”

Carmilla crosses her arms.  “I’m fine being alone, Mattie.”

“Say it once more, with _less_ feeling,” Mattie replies sarcastically, booping Carmilla on the nose.  She directs her attention to Laura.  “You _will_ keep my sister company, if you want to keep your friend okay.”

Laura jumps out of the bed at that.  “ _What_ did you say?”

“The non-monster-hunting friend you dragged with you out here?  I have them in my clutches.  If you shirk the responsibility of keeping Carm company, I’ll roast them on a spit and eat them for dinner.”  Mattie cackles. “Mother did always say I have quite the method of incentivizing others,” she adds with a wink.

With that, she waves goodbye to a bewildered Carmilla, goes back outside, transforms into a dragon, and flies away.

 

Laura slowly sits back down.  “So.  I’m a prisoner.”

Carmilla clenches her jaw and goes to get a cloth to clean Laura’s wounds.  “I…”

“Look, I don’t want to hear it.  I came out here to help you and now my friend’s been kidnapped and I’m stuck here with some lonely medusa,” Laura interrupts with a grumble.

Carmilla narrows her eyes and her nostrils flare.  “I didn’t ask for this either, y’know.”

Laura lets out an exasperated sigh.  “Yeah, great. Lotta good that does me.  This case was definitely not worth all this trouble.”

“That’s _it_ ,” Carmilla growls, throwing the cloth across the room, knocking over some books.  “Shit happens.  That’s just the way the world works, cutie.  So put up and shut up because, guess what—I’m your new roommate, sweetheart.”

Carmilla storms out of her own bedroom and slams the door.

Laura doesn’t even know where to go from here, or what to do.  She flops onto the bed with a groan.

 

* * *

 

Lying in the lawn in front of her house, Carmilla angrily flips the page in her book. But to be honest, she’s not even looking at it.  In fact, now that she focuses on it, she realizes she’s been holding it upside-down this whole time.  She drops it to the floor and stands with a huff.  It’s late evening now, and she hasn’t heard any stirring from Laura from within the house.

Laura, who meant to come out here and help her, and instead wound up getting her friend kidnapped and was now more or less being held prisoner here.  Carmilla runs a hand through her hair.

 _She might be hungry_.

Vaguely annoyed that she cares whether this stranger is hungry, Carmilla makes her way to the bedroom.  An empty bedroom.  Carmilla frowns and starts walking around the house, completely walking past the open door to the garden the first couple times she passes it.  She does a doubletake the third time and hesitantly steps through.

Laura is standing there, carefully running a hand over Sarah Jane’s statue’s face.

“She was scared,” Laura comments gently.  “They all were.”

Carmilla swallows hard. Suddenly the garden of her victim’s statues seems to be closing in on her.  She chooses to focus on Laura’s face, and the feeling of the world crumbling down on her slowly goes away. “Yeah.”

 

Laura takes a deep breath and turns.  “I’m sorry I took this situation out on you.  I just… don’t want anything to happen to LaF.  My friend.”

“I figured.  I’m sorry you’re in this situation at all.  Stuck here.  With me,” Carmilla sighs.  

Laura laughs softly.  “You know what’s funny?  I would’ve definitely volunteered to stay here and spend time with you, without Mattie kidnapping LaF.”

“I have no problem believing that.”  Carmilla regards Laura carefully.  “Are you hungry?  I was about to start cooking dinner.”

Laura nods eagerly.  “Falling off a cliff works up an appetite.”

Carmilla chuckles.  “Okay.  I’ll call you when I’m done.  And, uhm… while you’re here… well, y’know.  ‘My home is your home, and all that.”

“Thank you.”  Laura smiles at her.

Her smile is so warm and genuine that for the first time in a long time, Carmilla finds herself smiling back.

 

Carmilla makes her way inside and starts getting out ingredients for a stew she’d meant to make last for a few days.  She’d have to ask Mattie for more groceries from town.

She hears Laura eventually come in from the garden and make her way into the bedroom.  After preparing the potatoes and carrots, Carmilla pauses in front of the beef she’d gotten out.  She walks to the bedroom.

“Hey, do you have an dietary restrictions I should know abou--” Carmilla cuts herself off when she sees Laura crawling on the floor, looking for something.  “What are you doing?”

“Oh!”  Laura tries to stand up in surprise and winds up hitting her head on the edge of Carmilla’s dresser.  She winces and turns slowly.  “Ow.”

Carmilla frowns and walks over.  “You okay?”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Laura says, gingerly holding her head.  “It’s fine, it’s just a head injury from hitting my head on furniture compounding on the head injury from a dragon throwing me off a cliff,” she says lightly.

Carmilla chuckles.  “What were you even doing down there?”

Laura clears her throat awkwardly.  “I was looking for the cloth you threw earlier,” she mumbles.  “To clean my wounds.”

Carmilla freezes in place.  “Oh.”

“Yeah…” Laura replies.  “I didn’t want to bother you while cooking.  Which, I have no restrictions on, by the way.  Bring on the yumminess.”

 

Carmilla laughs.  “Before the… _yumminess_ … how about I get the stew started and then we clean and dress your cuts and scrapes?”

“Oh.  You don’t have to,” Laura insists.

“My sister did this to you and now I’ve gone and chucked your saving grace across the room.  It’s the least I can do,” Carmilla comments.

Laura nods her consent and hops onto the bed as Carmilla throws everything into a large pot and puts it above a flame.  When Carmilla returns with a bowl of water and picks the cloth off the floor, Laura has been waiting patiently.

 

“Okay, time for a damage assessment,” Carmilla says, dipping the cloth into the water.

“Ah, did that while I was waiting,” Laura replies.  She holds up her left arm.  “Four cuts.  One long one on the forearm, three small ones on the upper arm.  And my hand is all scraped up.”

Carmilla hums in response and gets to work.  “Can I ask you something?” she asks, carefully dabbing at the first cut.

“Sure.”

 

“Mattie very rarely compliments people’s fighting styles, so you must be really good,” Carmilla begins, pausing when she’s not sure how to phrase the question.

Laura smiles.  “I wasn’t born blind.  There was an… incident.  And the same incident that left me blind is what made me want to learn how to fight.  So my dad trained me.”

“Accident?” Carmilla prompts.

Laura shifts uncomfortably at this.

“Sorry.  You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” Carmilla says gently.  “And I’m done with the arm.”

Laura gestures at her legs.  “Both knees and some small scrapes on the front calves.”  All are visible through her ripped pants.

 

Carmilla starts re-wetting the cloth.

Laura takes a deep breath.  “My parents met hunting monsters together.  From what I hear, they were quite the duo, doing the same thing I do now—looking for peaceful solutions, and not-so-peaceful ones when they had exhausted all ideas.  But they gave it all up when they had me.  Wanted me safe.”  She winces and Carmilla gives her a small apologetic pat.  “When I was twelve, my mom and I were out on a walk and we stumbled across some evil witch making human sacrifices. You could just tell she was pure evil from the way she treated the people with such cold disregard.  She was this tall redhead with this huge black mark in the shape of a bow and arrow on both of her cheeks. I was so terrified, but my mom told me to run home and get my dad.  I started to, but I saw my mom wasn’t going to be able to survive that long, so I went back and distracted the witch long enough for my mom to free the remaining victims.”

“That was brave of you,” Carmilla comments.

Laura laughs ruefully.  “Yeah, well.  The witch caught me and got all mad at me.  Saying I’d ruined her plan to resurrect the Summer Society Coven.  So she formed this huge thing of mystical energy and threw it at me.  And-And my… my mother jumped in front of me.  I still got hit by some of it, and that’s what blinded me.”  Her voice cracks and she stops speaking for a moment.

Carmilla withdraws the cloth, frowning in concern.  “I didn’t mean to push.”

“You’re not,” Laura insists.  She nods to herself, getting ready to continue. “The last thing I saw was my mom dying.  Because of me.”

“No.”  Carmilla shakes her head and when she realizes Laura can’t see that, she places a hand on the uninjured part of Laura’s leg.  “No.  The last thing you saw was your mom saving you.  Because she loved you.”

Laura doesn’t seem to have ever considered it that way and offers a smile.  “Thank you,” she whispers.

 

“You’re very welcome.”  Carmilla twists the cloth into the bowl.  “Uhm.  Your legs are good to go.  What else ya got?”

Laura swallows hard and pulls her unzipped jacket aside and lifts her shirt a few inches, sucking in a breath.  Carmilla’s eyes widen at the sight.  Laura’s lower torso is covered in deep cuts, some of which are still bleeding.  “Holy shit.”

Laura huffs out some laughter.  “Yeah, that was the original reason I wanted the cloth.  To stop the bleeding when I realized it hadn’t stopped yet.”

“You’ve just… been sitting here _bleeding_?” Carmilla demands.

Laura flinches.  “I… didn’t know where the cloth went.”

Carmilla slumps forward.  “I’m such a jerk.”

“No, you’re not,” Laura says.  “You didn’t know I was ‘just sitting here bleeding.’”

Carmilla lets out a long sigh and gets up to find something to bandage the wounds.  “Are there any other grave injuries I should know about?”

Laura sheepishly looks down at the floor and doesn’t reply.

 

Carmilla narrows her eyes suspiciously. “Laura…”

“My arm is broken,” Laura mumbles, gesturing at her left arm.

“ _WHAT_?”

Laura grins nervously.  “Yeah, it, uh…  Snapped when I landed on it and I haven’t been able to move it.  I was going to ask you when you were done cleaning the cuts if you have any spare sheets so I could make a sling.”

Carmilla pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes in disbelief.  “Yeah, yeah.  I have extra sheets we can use for bandages and a sling.”  She eyes Laura warily. “Anything _else_?  Are you actually in a coma, right now?  Or trying to survive without a beating heart in your chest?”

Laura shakes her head.  “Nope.  That’s it.”

Carmilla turns to go to her linen drawer with an exasperated sigh.

 

“So…  Can I ask _you_ questions now?” Laura asks as Carmilla starts picking out old cloth she hasn’t used in a while.

Carmilla hesitates as she mulls it over.  “Sure.  Seems fair enough.”  She brings a pile over and grabs a pair of scissors to start cutting up strips.

 

“How’d you turn into a medusa?  I’ve heard of some who were born with the curse and others who were cursed later on.”

Carmilla laughs dryly.  “Boy, you get right into it.”

Laura blushes.  “Sorry.  I’d actually wanted to be a reporter when I was little.”

“I have no problem believing that,” Carmilla laughs.  “Lift your arms as much as you can,” she instructs gently and clears her throat.  “Well.  The non-broken one, anyway.”

Laura does as asked and Carmilla kneels on the floor so she can begin wrapping under Laura’s ribcage.

 

“I was cursed,” Carmilla murmurs.

Laura swallows hard, deciding not to press further unless Carmilla felt comfortable volunteering the information.

“Fell in love with a girl.  Elle Sheridan, a rich girl from a powerful family.  I was as well, but our families had been rivals for generations,” Carmilla starts.  “Except the more our parents tried to turn us against each other, the closer we got, and the more plans we made together.  And one day, I asked her to run away with me.  Start a new life, away from parents with expectations, and family feuds.  An adventure.”  She cuts up a few more strips of cloth.  “When it came time, she got cold feet.  Went to the goddess Lilita to ask for a way to help her test her strength, to know that she could be my rock through this.”

Laura’s eyes widen.

“Be careful what you wish for, right?” Carmilla scoffs.  “My family had caught me sneaking away when the ‘blessing’ kicked in.  I watched as they turned into stone, just from looking at me.”

“Oh, Carmilla,” Laura says softly.

Carmilla continues wrapping the cloth around Laura.  “I panicked.  I was scared.  So I ran to Elle’s.  And the same thing happened there—her family turned to stone. She walked in and saw what had happened and… I yelled at her not to look at me.  I couldn’t bear if I did it to her, too.”  Carmilla sniffles.  “But she didn’t come alone.  The goddess was with her.  And told Elle she had given her exactly what she had asked for.  A test of her strength, of her worthiness.  That now I was a medusa, a creature that turned all who looked at her into stone.  And so she told Elle to look at me.”

Carmilla’s finished with the bandages now, but stays kneeling on the floor before Laura.

“She didn’t.  Sh-She screamed at me and called me a monster. And she ran.”  Carmilla sniffles again.  “Apparently if Elle had looked at me without fear in that moment, that would’ve been proof that she was worthy of me.  But the goddess said to me that she knew when Elle came to her that I was deserving of so much more. And that she didn’t want me to have to spend even a mortal life with someone so weak and afraid of the unknown.”  Carmilla laughs ruefully as tears stream down her face.  “Instead, she condemned me to an immortal life of being a monster, unable for anyone to see me.”

 

“Hey.”  Laura reaches up and wipes away Carmilla’s tears.  “You’re not a monster.”

Carmilla lets out a sobbed laugh.  “Cutie, you were out there in the garden of all the people who have stumbled across my home and saw just how _much_ of a monster I am.”

Laura shakes her head.  “But did you actively go to nearby towns and get these victims turned to stone?”

“No,” Carmilla says around a sniffle.

“You were just a scared girl who had a terrible thing happen to her.  You lost your life and the girl you loved.  You’re not a monster,” Laura insists softly.

Carmilla stares at her.  “Okay, but you lost your mother and your sight, and then you became some kind of badass fighter.  I saw you on that cliff.  I couldn’t even tell you can’t see.”

Laura laughs shyly.  “Ah, after the thing happened with my mom, I told my dad that he couldn’t hide me from the world we live in.  And after a lot of yelling and fighting, he finally agreed to train me-- but only if I promised to use fighting as a last resort.  So he taught me everything he knew, and made sure I was better than him-- even without being able to see.”

“But _how_ do you know what your enemy is doing, then?”

“I’m just a really good guesser,” Laura deadpans.

Carmilla scowls.  “Ha. Ha.”

Laura giggles and Carmilla gives her a playful smack on an uninjured part of her arm.  “It’s a lot of using my hearing.  And eventually I got good enough that I could kinda sense what was happening too?”  She shrugs.  “My dad and I like to joke it’s my mom helping me out.”

 

Carmilla chuckles at that.  “It’s a pretty solid idea.”  She looks over at the pile of sheets and picks them up.  “So I’m gonna admit I have no idea how to make a sling.”

Laura laughs and reaches for them.  “I got it.  This ain’t my first rodeo.”

Carmilla hands them over and watches as Laura starts feeling out the pile.  “Mind if I watch?”

Laura shakes her head.  She starts to pick up one sheet before putting it down and thinking something over.  “Carm?”

Carmilla smiles upon hearing the nickname.  “Yeah?”

“I’ve gone up against a lot of monsters since I was twelve.”  Laura offers a warm, sincere smile.  “Trust me when I say, you’re not one.”

 

* * *

 

The next couple weeks go by quickly.

 

The next morning, Laura asks Carmilla what books she has and, since none of them are in Braille, Carmilla asks Laura if she would like her to read to her.  So for the next few nights, Laura and Carmilla curl up by the fireplace as Carmilla reads her most treasured books aloud and Laura listens carefully, smiling at each inflection or the way Carmilla pauses when she finishes her favorite parts.

 

Carmilla offers Laura her bed, insisting that someone injured should not have to sleep on the couch.  After the first night, Laura feels so guilty that she suggests they simply share the very large bed.  At first, Carmilla refuses, but after she dozes off while reading one night and Laura tugs her towards the bed, she’s too groggy to resist.

And so, they carefully share Carmilla’s bed, but Carmilla makes sure to stay on her side.  If not to avoid accidentally brushing up against Laura’s injuries, then at least to offer some personal space.

But while listening to Laura’s breathing at night, Carmilla realizes this is the best she has ever slept.

 

At the end of the first week, Carmilla finds out that Laura likes sweets.  Like, _really_ likes them.  So she makes a mental note to ask Mattie the next time she visits to go to town to buy more ingredients, because Laura used them all up while baking.

Laura insists that there’s something called ‘hot chocolate’ that she simply _must_ try.

 

Halfway through the first week, Carmilla wakes up to find she somehow started spooning Laura in her sleep.  She starts to pull away, but Laura snuggles closer, muttering that Carmilla’s nice and warm.

Carmilla smiles because Laura is, too.

 

* * *

 

At the end of the second week, Carmilla finds Laura staring morosely into space.  When she asks her what’s wrong, Laura shrugs and says she’s going to bed.  Carmilla frowns and Laura pauses at the bedroom doorway.

“Merry Christmas, Carm.”

Laura had left a small pile of brightly decorated cookies on the table for Carmilla.

 

And that’s when Carmilla decides enough is enough.

Instead of waiting for Mattie to come visit like she always has, she uses the special stone Mattie had given her, back when she was first ordered by Lilita to watch over her precious glittering girl.

 

She throws it into the fire and waits.

And waits.

A few minutes later, Mattie appears, hands on her hips.  “I actually forgot I gave that to you.”  She gives Carmilla a hug and then steps back with a frown.  “What’s the matter?  That little bite-sized monster hunter not good enough company?”  Her eyes shine with glee.  “Do you want to watch me roast her and eat her for dinner, tiny bones and all?”

“What?”  Carmilla wrinkles up her nose in disgust.  “No!  No.  Laura’s fine.  She’s great.”  She lets out a long sigh.  “It’s just…”

Mattie looks at her expectantly.

“It’s Christmas.”

 

Mattie lets out a snort.  “Okay… And?”

“I want to give her a present,” Carmilla says slowly, watching as Mattie tries to hide her amusement.  “Can we just let her go, Mattie?”

“ _What_?” Mattie asks, surprised.

Carmilla flops onto her couch.  “I love having her here but… not against her will.  I want you to release her friend so she has the option to leave.  Which she will.”

Mattie’s look of amusement slowly fades.  “Oh, Carm--”

“What’s going on?” Laura asks groggily from across the room.

Carmilla looks at her sheepishly.  “Uhmmm.”

Mattie rolls her eyes and walks towards Laura, dragging her towards the couch.

“Watch her broken arm,” Carmilla snaps.

“Humans.  So delicate,” Mattie comments, weakening her hold on Laura but still directing her at the couch.

 

Laura sits down next to Carmilla, confused and trying to blink the sleep from her eyes.  “What’s going on?” she repeats.  “Did something happen to LaF?”

“I didn’t do anything to them,” Mattie says, crossing her arms.

“She didn’t say you did,” Carmilla points out.

Mattie sighs.  “Okay, I have a confession.  I don’t have your friend captive.”

Laura’s eyes widen.  “ _What_?”

“I had them for less than a day before I got bored.”  Mattie laughs.  “They kept going on about this and that with experiments and tests they had to run and how I was keeping them from that and I actually _felt_ my age’s years creeping in.  So I let them go.”

“And I’m just supposed to trust that?” Laura asks neutrally.

Mattie shrugs.  “Believe what you want.  But I dropped them off at the cleanest-looking lab in the entire land, where another redhead with curly hair was waiting frantically.”

“Perry,” Laura says with a laugh.  “So LaF has been safely at home the past couple weeks?”

Mattie nods.  “So, Carm, there’s nothing for you to ask me to do, here.  Thanks for wasting my time.”

 

Laura turns to Carmilla, eyebrows furrowed.  “What’s she talking about?”

When Carmilla doesn’t answer, Mattie cackles.  “My little sappy sister summoned me here to ask me to let your friend go as a Christmas gift to you.  And that would give you the choice of leaving.”

Laura’s face goes through a variety of emotions—being elated that her friend was okay, to being touched that Carmilla was trying to give her a present, then concerned and sad.

“I’m sorry if I upset you,” Carmilla murmurs.

“You didn’t,” Laura replies immediately.  “Well.  I mean, I don’t know if ‘upset’ is the right word.”  She chews her lip.  “Why are you trying to send me away?” she asks, her voice small.

Carmilla frowns.  “I’m not!”

“Then what are you doing?” Laura asks, growing more perplexed.

“I was _trying_ to give you a choice as a _gift_ for _Christmas_ ,” Carmilla snaps, exasperated.  “I didn’t want you to feel like a prisoner being held hostage here.  I want you to be able to leave if you want to!”

“Well, I don’t!” Laura yells back.

 

They stare at each other in silence for a few seconds.

“I don’t want you to leave either,” Carmilla admits softly.

“Then it’s settled.  I’m not going anywhere, Carm,” Laura says firmly.

Another few seconds of silence.

 

Mattie looks back and forth between them with a grin before clasping her hands together gleefully.  “Great.  You passed my test, Laura Hollis.”

“Test?”  Laura scowls.  “What test?”

“Yeah, what are you talking about, Mattie?” Carmilla asks.

Mattie laughs and pats Carmilla’s leg affectionately.  “All in good time, sis.”  With that, she walks out and the sounds of her flying away leave behind a confused Laura and Carmilla.

 

The next morning, Carmilla wakes up to an empty bed and the smell of breakfast cooking.  She smiles and strolls into the kitchen.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Laura greets brightly.  “Mattie dropped off ‘your usual groceries’ so I thought I’d do my part around here.  Took slightly longer than my usual speed since… I don’t know where anything is.  Sorry.”

Carmilla chuckles softly.  “Are you seriously apologizing to me right now?”

Laura shrugs with a smile and gets back to work, fully aware that Carmilla is staring at her.  In a few minutes, two plates of eggs and bacon and hash browns sit on the small kitchen table.  Carmilla digs in and gives her compliments with a full mouth, making Laura giggle.

 

After a couple minutes of just chewing, Carmilla clears her throat.  “Why _did_ you decide to stay?”

Laura frowns.  “To make you breakfast, duh.”

“Wiseass.”

Laura laughs and takes a swig of some grape juice.  “I know you think I was being held here against my will, but I wasn’t.  I mean, I wasn’t thrilled at the notion that LaF was a hostage to make me stay, but as long as they were okay, I didn’t see a problem.”  She smiles.  “You’re not bad company.  For a medusa or otherwise.”

“Tell that to my guests out in the garden,” Carmilla mumbles.

“Yeah.  About that.”  Laura puts down her fork and stiffens.  “I wanted to just clarify with you about this… curse Lilita put on you.”  Carmilla doesn’t reply, so Laura continues carefully.  “You said Elle went to her to ask for a way to help her test her strength.  But later, Lilita told you that she knew when Elle came to her that you were deserving of so much more, and that she didn’t want you to spend even you mortal life with someone so weak and afraid of the unknown.”

“Mmhmm,” Carmilla replies, not sure where this is going.

Laura looks pensive.  “Mmm.  I’m just coming up with a theory.”  She grins.  “In the meantime, take comfort in knowing that the goddess and I both agree on at least one thing.”

Carmilla raises an eyebrow.  “What’s that?”

Laura’s grin widens and she picks her fork back up.  “We both think you deserve better than someone who would condemn you as a monster and run away.”

Carmilla stares at her, unable to come up with any reply worthy enough.  So instead, she goes back to eating, too.

 

* * *

 

A routine forms over the next several days.

Laura wakes up early and makes breakfast.  They spend the hours until lunch with Laura telling about her wild adventures with monsters and other mythical creatures from the past decade.  

Carmilla makes lunch, and afterwards Laura likes to wander the garden and visit the statues and continue their chats, or do some baking.

They make dinner together.  The first time, Carmilla is legitimately in awe that they work well as one unit, working seamlessly around each other.  Mattie drops by on the sixth day and comments that it looks like they’ve lived together for years.  Carmilla finds herself lamenting that this hadn’t been the case, but hoping that this _will_ be the case.

But the favorite part of Carmilla’s day is how, after dinner, they curl up by the fireplace, and Laura asks Carmilla to read to her until they’re both giggling from sleepiness and shuffle off to bed.

Favorite memories in a sea of memories.

 

Memories like Laura falling asleep before Carmilla even got to the fireplace and Carmilla was trying not to disturb her but accidentally tripped over a stack of books and fell on top of Laura.  Carmilla apologized profusely, checking to see if she’d injured the poor girl farther, but Laura just laughed and laughed until Carmilla was laughing too.

Or when Carmilla was frosting a cake and Laura took some and rubbed it on Carmilla’s face, prompting Carmilla to retaliate.  The cake wound up having no frosting on it and Carmilla couldn’t help but stare at how amazing Laura looked, even confused while asking if she’d gotten all of the frosting off.  Which she hadn’t.

 

One day Laura asked what Carmilla did for fun before she turned into a medusa and Carmilla tells her she and Elle enjoyed waltzing, mostly because it wasn’t allowed. Laura laughs at the absurd notion and so Carmilla asks if she can give Laura a little demonstration.

Laura nods, so Carmilla takes her hand and gives her a small whirl before pulling her in and, just like their hands fit together, the feeling of being that close to Laura feels perfect. Their eyes meet and even if Laura can’t see her, there’s the warmth and kindness there that Carmilla had felt from that first moment by the river.

And for the first time in centuries, Carmilla stares into a human’s eyes and doesn’t feel their fear, or horror.

It just feels like they’re two normal girls.

 

After five days of bliss, there’s a knock at the front door and Carmilla frowns.  “That’s definitely not Mattie,” she comments.  “Uhm, can you answer it, cupcake?  I don’t wanna… you know.”

Laura pats her on the leg gently and gets up from their breakfast to open the door.

“Laura?” a confused voice greets.  “Laura!”

Laura blinks in surprise.  “ _Perry_?”

A redhead tackles Laura in a hug and Laura stumbles a bit into the house before wincing.

“Oh!  LaFontaine told me you fell off a cliff, I forgot,” Perry apologizes, backing away and examining her.  “How bad are the injures?”

“Remember that time the colossus fell on me and I was in a coma for a few days and broke, like, half my body?” Laura asks.

Perry sucks in a breath.  “Yes.”

“A little better than that,” Laura says with a laugh.  “But Carm’s been great with taking care of me.”

 

There’s a pause as Carmilla stares in confusion at her new guest.  “Carmilla, I presume?” Perry says, walking towards the kitchen table.

Laura’s eyes widen.  “Wait!  Don’t look at her!”

“Oh, don’t worry, dear,” Perry says with a laugh.  “LaFontaine has spent the past few weeks developing glasses with a filter so people can look at Carmilla and not turn to stone.  We tested it on a medusa we have on retainer at the company.”

Perry makes direct eye contact with Carmilla.

“Hello!”

Carmilla clears her throat awkwardly.  “Hi.”

“That’s great!” Laura squeals.  “Carm, that means more people can come see you!”

 

Perry turns her attention back to Laura. “Uhm.  Actually.  That’s why I came here.  Well, there’s a lot of reasons. You might want to sit down for this.”  She pulls on the chair and Laura retakes her seat.

“People have started going missing from the towns around here,” Perry says.  “There’s no pattern.  Men, women, children, the elderly, adults of all ages.”

Laura frowns.  “And… you guys think it’s Carm?”

Perry doesn’t answer and Carmilla crosses her arms.

“It’s not,” Laura says firmly.

Perry takes a deep breath.  “Look, it’s just… LaFontaine came back and said that giant dragon-lady knocked you off a cliff before taking them away to her home and leaving you for dead.  The dragon-lady brought them back to me and said you’d been left with a medusa named Carmilla.  And then the reports started coming in...”

Laura clenches her jaw.  “Carmilla brought me back after the cliff and she’s been taking care of me.  I mean, do you think someone who’s been kidnapping townspeople would treat the wounds of a monster hunter?  And let me answer her door?”

Perry frowns, taking in Laura’s sling around her broken arm, and her healing cuts and scrapes. The bandages around her torso are visible through her sleeveless top. “Well, no...”

“Carmilla is a good person who was cursed into being a medusa.  She’s not doing this.”

 

Perry lets out a sigh before glancing over Laura’s shoulder.  She starts walking, her eyes growing wider.  Carmilla follows her line of sight and buries her head in her hands.  “Damnit.”

Laura stands up, trailing after Perry.  “What?  What is sh--”  She realizes it and quickens her pace, but Perry is already out the door.

And standing in Carmilla’s garden of statues.

 

“Good lord,” Perry exhales in horror.  “Laura, did you know they were out here?”

Laura swallows hard.  “Yes.”

Carmilla lingers in the doorway.

Perry whirls to face them, her eyes fearful behind the glasses.  “She’s a monster!  There’s dozens of victims here!”

“They were all people who stumbled here by accident,” Carmilla mumbles.  “Sneaking onto my property and catching me by surprise.  I try to scare people off whenever I know they’re here, but it doesn’t always work.”

Perry crosses her arms.  “And I’m just supposed to trust this?”

Carmilla doesn’t know what to say so she just looks down at the ground.

Laura steps forward.  “Trust _me_.”  She takes a deep breath. “Carmilla didn’t turn these people to stone because she’s a monster.”

 

Perry hesitates and her face softens.  “Sweetie, you don’t understand how bad this looks...”

“I do.”  Laura shakes her head. “I’ve been out here almost every day for the past few weeks, Perry.  I’ve touched them and felt their fear.  It’s the same fear I hear in Carmilla’s voice when she talks about this curse.  She’s just as scared as every person in this garden ever was.  Maybe even more so.”

Perry seems to take this in slowly for a few moments.  “Even if I believe you-- and I’m not saying I am-- my company probably won’t.”

“I don’t work for them,” Laura points out.

“No… but I do.  And even if I tell them that Carmilla’s not an evil medusa, they’re still gonna think she is and send a team out here to investigate.”

Carmilla wrinkles up her nose.  “What kind of weird ass company is this?”

 

“They deal with the paranormal,” Laura replies.  “Usually ghost hauntings and humane research to gather info on mythical creatures.  And occasionally, the mass missing persons case.”

“But they’re not monster hunters?” Carmilla clarifies.

Laura shakes her head.

“Then...”  Carmilla huffs, annoyed.  “Might as well just let them come.  They can investigate until the cows come home, and then investigate the cows.  They won’t find anything.”  She frowns.  “Well, other than all these victims out here, anyway.”

 

Laura mulls this over before stomping her foot.  “No!   _No_.  No way.”

Upon seeing Laura growing increasingly upset, Carmilla moves away from the doorway and gently touches Laura’s elbow.  “Laura--”

“No,” Laura repeats again.  “This shouldn’t be some ‘guilty until proven innocent’ bullcrap.  You’re innocent.  Period.”  She turns back to Perry.  “Look, you don’t have to report back right away, right?”

Perry sighs.  “No…”

“Just work the town, gather info.  I’m gonna investigate, too.”  Laura faces Carmilla, putting her hands on her shoulders.  “I’m gonna clear your name, Carm.”

Carmilla chuckles, tears forming in her eyes.  “Okay.  Okay, Laura.”

 

* * *

 

A few days go by and Perry’s gone to one town to ask around about the disappearances, while Laura does the same.  Carmilla wakes up one morning and makes her way to the kitchen to find an exasperated Laura running her fingers over some books Mattie had dropped off the night before.  “ _Anything to exonerate my sis,_ ” she had said.

“Please tell me you slept last night,” Carmilla says gently as she approaches.  “You told me you’d come to bed soon.”

Laura groans and drops her head to the book with a _thud_.  “Is it really morning already?”

Carmilla pouts and sits down across the table from Laura.  Her eyes wander down and widen.  “Laura!  Your hands...”

The Braille dots had rubbed Laura’s fingers raw and Carmilla takes Laura’s hands, as if moving them away from the books would heal them.

Laura laughs sheepishly.  “Got any hand cream?”

Carmilla narrows her eyes in a glare.  “Not funny.”  She sighs.  “Take a break, okay?  Go to our room and sleep. I’ll make something to eat for when you wake up.”

 

Laura starts to argue, but Carmilla’s already got her out of the chair and into bed before she can muster the strength to fight back.

 

She wakes up several hours later to the sound of Mattie clicking her tongue in the next room.  “ _Nothing?_ ”

“ _Not that I know of,_ ” Carmilla replies.

Another tongue clicking.  “ _Dear, if she doesn’t figure out who’s causing these disappearances, that company may not do monster hunting themselves, but I’m sure they’d outsource it to people who do._ ”

Laura steps out of the bedroom.  “They do,” she admits softly.  “It’s why I won’t work with them.  They hire external people to kill monsters that they deem too dangerous, even if there isn’t enough proof.”  She shakes her head.  “And I can’t let that happen to you, Carm.  I won’t.”

Carmilla’s face softens and she walks over to Laura.  “Hey.  It’s fine, okay?  We’ll continue the research and figure out what’s behind this.”

“Any leads?” Mattie asks.

Laura lets out a long sigh.  “Not really.  There’s minimal traces left behind and no bodies left behind to identify the culprit by…  So it could be anything from… stealthy beasts, hungry giants, witches, sentient bodiless hands, spirits trapped between their realm and ours--”

“I get it, I get it,” Mattie says.

 

Laura visibly deflates and Carmilla pouts.  “How about you step away from the books for a bit and come back with fresh eyes?  Maybe Mattie can fly you into town to buy some of that hot chocolate powder you’re always raving about.”

Mattie glares at Laura.  “I’m not an Uber.”

“No,” Carmilla says with a grin, “you’re my amazing sister who loves me very much.”

Mattie’s glare intensifies.  “You owe me.”

Carmilla’s grin widens and she gives Mattie a hug.  “Thanks!”

“This works out, anyway.  There was something I’ve been meaning to give you.”  Mattie carefully takes a confused Laura by the elbow and leads her outside.  “Is your torso done healing?” she asks, trying to mask concern with a gruff tone.

Laura nods.  “Yeah, but how exactly will you--”

Mattie’s changed into her dragon form and wraps her large hand around Laura’s lower torso, smirking when Laura lets out a surprised yelp.  She flaps her wings a couple times and takes off, with an amused Carmilla watching them leave.

 

She heads back inside, poring over the books Mattie had brought for her.  After a couple hours of skimming through them, she throws the one in her hands aside.  “Damn, cupcake, how did you do this _all night_?”

Mattie’s wings flap in the distance, but this time they sound more frantic and urgent than she’s ever heard them.  Carmilla furrows her eyebrows in confusion and goes to the door to meet her, concerned when Mattie isn’t holding Laura in her hand, but rather both of Laura’s friends.

“Where’s Laura?” Carmilla demands.

Mattie lands and puts down LaFontaine and Perry, changing back.

“We bumped into Laura in town when she was picking out hot chocolate for you,” Perry begins.  “Mattie asked us for updates and while we were giving them to her, we didn’t realize Laura had wandered off to the other vendors.”

“By the time we realized and caught up to her,” Mattie continues, “she was fighting someone off.  Someone who had the power to teleport her away.”  She lets out a deep inhuman growl.  “A witch.”

 

Carmilla’s mind is going a mile a minute.  “So.  S-So, a witch is behind the disappearances?”

“Not just any witch,” LaFontaine comments.  “A witch from a very dangerous coven that terrorized the world for decades before most of them were eradicated.  A witch that Laura’s met before.  Danny Lawrence.  The one who started her whole vendetta.”

Carmilla swallows hard, Laura’s tale coming back to her.  “The witch with the bow and arrow markings.”

LaFontaine nods to confirm.  “She was taken by the witch that killed her mother and blinded her.”

 

* * *

 

“Let me get this straight.  Your company sent you here after a medusa that was potentially kidnapping people to add to her vast collection in her garden.  But you’re not willing to go after a witch to save your friend?” Carmilla snarls.

Perry and LaFontaine exchange looks.  “We’re not monster hunters,” Perry mumbles.  “They work in the research lab and I do administrative work.”

“So you’re just going to let Laura _die_?” Carmilla yells.

“We never said that,” LaF comments.  They hold onto their glasses just in case Carmilla decides to knock them off in a moment of anger.  “I have an idea.”

Carmilla crosses her arms.  “And what will this plan entail, exactly?”

LaF grins.  “Just you being a distraction so we can get the element of surprise.”

 

* * *

 

Laura struggles against her restraints, keeping her arms pinned behind her back and to the wall. Between one arm still being broken and whatever magical whammy the witch used to teleport her and then knock her unconscious keeping her weak and groggy, it’s all in vain.

The witch walks in and laughs at Laura’s effort.  “Feisty one, aren’t you?”

Laura clenches her jaw.  “I’m gonna take you down for what you’ve done.”

Danny quirks an eyebrow.  “‘What I’ve done?’  What have I--”  Her eyes widen.  “Oh, crap.  You’re that girl who tried to thwart my last sacrifice.”  She laughs.  “What are the chances?  I thought you died.”

“You only blinded me,” Laura growls.  “I guess the world wanted to make sure I would stick around to stop you.”

“Oh, you’re a silly little thing,” the witch cackles.  “You’re not stopping anything.  After all, following the last attempt, I simply went somewhere else and obtained enough sacrifices to finish my ritual. Just had to wait a decade. I’m immortal and my coven isn’t going anywhere.”  Danny scoffs.  “That being said, I am getting impatient.  And you’re the last sacrifice needed before the Gates open and my coven is released.”

Laura grins smugly.  “You’re not gonna succeed.”

 

Danny frowns.  “Is this some kind of bizarre psych-out tactic?”

“No,” Laura replies.  “I guess a good thing about you blinding me is how good my hearing is.  You don’t happen to have a landing pad for a dragon, do you?”

Before the witch can reply, there’s a loud _BOOM_ and the ceiling above her crumbles inward, a giant dragon dropping off one Carmilla Karnstein before flying away again.

Danny looks at Carmilla, making eye contact before doing a double-take.  “My, my.  A medusa.  Haven’t met one of your kind before.”  She waves her hand and Carmilla flies backwards into the wall with a grunt.  “I might keep you around as a pet to keep guard for me.  Along with that dragon.”  Danny turns her attention back to Laura.  “After this sacrifice, though.”

 

She lifts her hand and it glows for a few seconds before a similar glow appears on Laura’s chest.  Laura begins gasping in pain, struggling against her restraints again.

“Gimme that strong little heart,” Danny sneers.

Carmilla groans as she pushes herself up and her eyes widen when she realizes what’s happening.  She charges at Danny, tackling her to the ground and the glowing on Laura’s chest disappears.

Laura lets out a sigh of relief before noticing that Danny’s gotten back up and is ready to retaliate against Carmilla.  She manages to sweep out Danny’s feet from under her from her spot, and holds Danny’s head in a tight lock with her legs.

Carmilla watches on, ready to take Danny on again if she manages to break free from Laura, but Laura holds her there until she feels Danny’s fight lapse and she’s unconscious.

“Now I definitely know never to underestimate you,” Carmilla comments as she rushes to liberate Laura from her constraints.  She gets Laura away from the wall.  “Are you okay?”

Laura holds her chest and winces.  “I’ll live.”

 

“We’ve got a plan, but we have to distract her for a bit,” Carmilla whispers, keeping a wary eye on the witch.  “Do you have it in you?”

Laura nods as Danny stirs on the ground.  Then she frowns.  “Wait.  Who’s ‘we?’”

Before Carmilla can reply, Danny is on her feet again.  “Fine.  I’ll just sacrifice _both_ of you.”

She holds out both hands, but Laura is prepared and is already grabbing both hands and twisting until a small _crack_ is heard.  Danny lets out a howl of pain, managing to pull herself free from Laura’s grasp.  She lifts her arms and magically hurls Laura into a wall, breaking off pieces of it.

Carmilla takes a swing, but Danny sees it coming.  She side-steps it with ease and grabs Carmilla by the throat.

“Let’s see how small a medusa’s heart is in comparison, shall we?” Danny snarls.

“The only one here with a small heart is _you_ ,” Laura growls, picking up a part of the wall and throwing it at Danny’s back with enough force for her to release Carmilla.

Carmilla runs to Laura’s side.

 

“How long do we have to play bait, now?” Laura asks, looking worse for the wear.

Danny scoffs.  “Play bait for _who_?  No one is coming to your rescue this time, whelp.  Your mommy is as cold and dead as the victims of the girl beside you.”  There’s an evil glint in her eye.  She slowly lifts one hand, quietly chanting.

“What is she doing?” Carmilla asks, unsure of what to do.

“I don’t kno--”  Laura’s eyes widen.  She _does_ know.  She knows all too well.

 _This is what she did right before she killed my mom_.

By the time Laura’s figured it out, it’s too late and the witch is already shooting the stream of energy from the palm of her outstretched hand.  There’s only a moment to act, and all Laura knows is she will _not_ stand by and let it happen again.  Not to someone else she cares about.

So she pushes Carmilla out of the way of the blast and gets hit with the full force of it, sent soaring across the room.

 

“ _LAURA!_ ”

Before Carmilla can even begin to process what happened to the crumpled form on the ground, giant wings beat in the distance and Mattie drops off two redheads.  LaFontaine and Perry look down at Laura in horror,  LaF shakes their head and goes up to Carmilla.

“No time.  We need to do what we planned,” they say urgently to Carmilla, handing her something.  “Now.”

Carmilla swallows hard and remembers how, even motherless and blind, Laura found the strength to demand her father teach her how to fight.  And how this strength was so profound that she only used it when necessary.

Whatever state Laura was in, Laura thought Carmilla’s life was worth giving hers up for.  And she would not let that be in vain.

 

She nods at LaFontaine and Perry, and at Mattie, who’s circling around the room.

LaF and Perry run to opposite sides of the room.  “How many of us can you hit at once?” LaF taunts.

Danny scoffs. “What kind of perplexing suicidal death with do you all have?”  She waves both of her hands and LaF and Perry both fly into the walls behind them.

Mattie lets out a screeching roar and breathes out a trail of fire directly at Danny, which she easily combats with her own.  At the very least, this keeps her preoccupied.

 

 _Now’s my moment_.

With one more glance at the unconscious-- or worse-- Laura, Carmilla runs up to the witch, with LaFontaine’s secret weapon in her hand.  She throws it on Danny and makes direct eye contact.

And Danny’s eyes widen in fear.

Fear that so many before her had shown.  As her face contorts into agony, her body solidifies into stone.

A moment of silence falls across the room and the group stares at the statue in awe, the witch immortalized in terror.

 

A loud inhaling gasp echoes across the room and Carmilla is the first to run toward it, grabbing onto a sputtering Laura.  

“Well, that was a kick,” Laura groans, wincing as Carmilla’s embrace tightens.

Carmilla’s eyes tear up as she lets go.  “Shit.  You’re hurt.”

Laura nods with a small smile.  “But I’m here.  Somehow.”  Her breath catches in her throat.

“What?  What is it?” Carmilla asks, checking her over for bleeding or grave wounds.

“I can see.”  Tears roll down Laura’s face.  “Oh, Carm, you’re beautiful.”

 

Carmilla’s mouth drops open before she realizes what this means and she quickly turns away from Laura.

Laura frowns.  “Carm…”  
“No,” Carmilla says around a sniffle.  “We can’t look at each other.  If I turned you to stone… if I did that, I think I’d go mad.”

“We made eye contact when I woke up,” Laura says gently.  “Your eyes were the first thing I saw.  Your gorgeous eyes.”

Carmilla pauses at this and slowly turns, still afraid to make full eye contact.  “Did you know when you could see that you wouldn’t turn to stone?”

Laura smiles sheepishly.  “Uhm… No.  But I wasn’t scared, either.  I just knew you’d never hurt me.” She looks at Mattie, who’s shifted back into her human form.  “What did you give me?”

Carmilla frowns in confusion.  “What are you talking about?”

 

Mattie and Laura exchange a look.  “That blast killed me,” Laura says slowly.  “I think?”

“Probably,” Mattie comments.

A panicked and perplexed look comes over Carmilla’s face.  “But…  You’re not dead.”

Mattie laughs dryly.  “She kinda is, sis.”

Everyone in the room stare at Mattie and Laura, waiting for an explanation.  Until Carmilla notices it first.  “You’re wearing Mattie’s pendant,” she says to Laura.

 

“I gave it to her when we landed near town,” Mattie explains.  “Mother asked me to. After I told her she passed my test.”

“ _What_ test?” Carmilla and Laura ask at the same time.

Mattie regards them, amused.  “To get rid of your curse.”

When Laura and Carmilla are too shocked to speak, Mattie laughs.

Carmilla swallows hard.  “No more curse?”

Mattie smiles.  “No more curse.”

 

“Guess we have to keep that other medusa on retainer,” Perry whispers to LaFontaine.

Laura turns to look at them.  “Speaking of that, what did you guys do to the witch?”

“I just did the ol’ switcheroo,” LaFontaine explains.  “Instead of the glasses Perry and I are wearing that filter _out_ Carmilla’s ability to turn us into stone, I added a filter so that when they were placed on Danny, they’d make Carmilla’s ability work on her.  But I needed some time to get this done, so that’s why you and Carmilla had to play bait for a bit.”

“Very smart. But I wouldn’t expect any less.  And, for the record, you both grew up into some fine-looking people,” Laura comments with a giggle.  She turns her attention back to Mattie and takes Carmilla’s hand in hers, giving it a squeeze.  “So.  About this test?”

 

Mattie takes a deep breath.  “All those years ago, when an undeserving Elle came to Mother, she saw an opportunity.  For centuries, she’d been wanting to relinquish her godship to someone worthy.  So that she may be in the afterlife with a human she had fallen in love with so long ago.”

“And Carm was the worthy one?” Laura prompts.

Mattie shakes her head.  “Well, not her alone, anyway.  Mother had foreseen a pair that would transcend the ages, a story for mortals to idolize.  So she wanted Carmilla to meet her match.  But this would not happen in one mortal life span.  Or even two or three.  And so, she made Carmilla immortal in the moment Elle made her request.  And charged me with making sure Carmilla stuck around so that, when the time comes, I would test her other half and deem them worthy.”

Carmilla takes all this in slowly.  “So… from the beginning when Laura and I met...”

“I heard tales of a capable monster hunter with a superhuman ability for empathy was coming to town, and I had an inkling.  When I realized she was blind and wouldn’t be turned to stone, the inkling became stronger,” Mattie explains.  “And when she never once treated you like a monster, never demonstrated any hint of an urge to abandon your side…  Watching her make you laugh and smile… I knew.  And I reported back to Mother.  She agreed with my assessment and told me to give Laura my pendant that can be used to summon her.  But it’d only work after passing one final test.”

 

“Me sacrificing my life for Carm,” Laura realizes.

Mattie nods.  “You see, when Elle made her wish, Carmilla never once blamed Elle for the curse.  She gave up her life for this girl without a second thought.  So… You two really are a perfect match.”

Laura plays with the necklace in her hand. “A perfect match?  For what?”

Mattie kneels down beside Laura and Carmilla. “A perfect match for being gods.  The fact that Laura is alive again, sight restored, is proof that Lilita gave up her godly existence and bestowed it upon you two.”

“Holy Hera,” LaFontaine breathes out.

 

“Because you two are technically sharing Lilita’s godship, it’s a little different than the ethereal existence she led.  You won’t be dwelling up in the heavens, but rather, confined to Earth with the mortals.  But you will be immortal, together.  With _some_ powers.”

Carmilla and Laura look at each other, tears forming but unable to find words.

“How about we leave you guys alone?” Mattie suggests, standing up and gesturing at Perry and LaFontaine to head for the exit.  “Give me a shout when you want to return home.”

They wait until wings flap away in the distance before letting out a collective breath they didn’t realize they’d been holding.

 

“So, we’re immortal almost-gods paired together for all eternity, huh?” Laura asks, making Carmilla chuckle.  

She grins and watches as Laura’s eyes quickly scan around the room before landing on her again.  And move down to Carmilla’s lips.

Carmilla takes the hint and leans forward, stopping halfway.  Laura smirks and lets out an excited squeal as she meets Carmilla’s lips for a deep kiss.

For a moment, time feels like it’s both standing still and rushing forward all at once, like a small pocket of the universe has been reserved just for them.  Like this is meant to be, like it was always meant to be, like it’ll always be meant to be.

 

Laura pulls away first and watches in awe as Carmilla’s eyes slowly flutter open.

“Yeah, eternity doing that sounds great to me,” Laura babbles, making Carmilla laugh and nod in agreement.

“Kinda daunting.”

Laura shrugs.  “We can start with this.”  She reaches into her pocket and produces a crumpled packet.

Carmilla’s mouth drops open and she laughs in disbelief.  “Is that...”

“Hot chocolate!”  Laura beams.  “Told you I’d get you to try some.  Just didn’t think I’d have to die to do it.”

Carmilla narrows her eyes in a playful glare.  “Laura Hollis, you really do take sweets seriously.”

“When you taste hot chocolate for the first time, you’ll understand.”

“Looking forward to it,” Carmilla comments with a laugh.

 

Laura looks out the hole in the ceiling and nudges Carmilla.  “Hey, Carm.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s past midnight,” Laura comments, beaming at her.  “Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year, Laura.”

Laura giggles and Carmilla stares at her amazing other half.  The one she’d waited so long for.  The one with beautiful eyes.

 

“You know what’s pretty amazing?” Carmilla asks after a few seconds.

Laura looks at her expectantly.

“Even before you got your sight back… You’re the first person who ever really _saw_ me.”

Laura laughs.  “That’s because as soon as we met, it felt… Like...”  She’s at a loss for words.

Carmilla swallows hard.  “Yeah.  Yeah, it did.”

 

It felt like two halves of a whole coming together.  A perfect match.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this tweet](https://twitter.com/_daifei/status/940801958834855936).  
> So, fun fact. After Christmas, I was like "gee wouldn't it be fun to write a small one-shot about Carmilla being a medusa and Laura being a blind monster hunter? And then just kinda fall in love and that's it? And I can post it early New Year's Eve?"  
> Well.... Five days in I realized I was at twenty pages and nowhere near done. This was probably the first time I've finished writing something and posted it the same day with one editing session, so I apologize if it seems rushed or if there are errors. I just really wanted to give something to this awesome fandom to kick off 2018.
> 
> Feel free to chat in the comments below or swing by on [tumblr](http://romeo-oh-nomeo.tumblr.com/) and say hi! :D  
> Happy New Year to all and, as always, stay awesome!! <3


End file.
